Latest News

Press Releases

Friday 2nd May 2008

Acheson & Glover has helped an English council achieve a radical solution for replacing a crumbling brick wall with an aesthetically pleasing alternative on a site offering poor access for plant.

The 100-year old wall in a densely packed residential area in Stourbridge, West Midlands, formed the lower part of a 7m high embankment separating two streets.

The answer Dudley Metropolitan District Council (MDC) engineers came up with was to install a series of cast in-situ 12m piles reaching to the top of the embankment.

Main contractors, Wrekin Construction then faced the structure using Anchor Landmark masonry retaining wall blocks which Acheson & Glover manufactures under licence from Anchor Wall Systems of Minnesota.

Anchor Landmark retaining wall blocks usually form part of a composite, reinforced earth structure that uses geosynthetic grids and compacted backfill to form highly efficient retaining walls. For this project, the walling was specified more for its ease and speed of construction as well as its attractive masonry appearance.

Explaining this decision, Dudley MDC Section Engineer, Roger Morgan says:

“The Landmark system was chosen after consultation with Wrekin and local residents. The facing had to be aesthetically pleasing as well as easy to install. The site had severe access restrictions so we needed a walling that could be built by hand with the minimum of plant.”

The Landmark wall was built by specialist sub-contractors, PC Construction. The blocks were dry laid without mortar and the void between wall and piles filled with free-draining no-fines concrete. Drainage was provided at the base of the wall to prevent the build up of hydrostatic pressure. The wall was then capped with purpose made coping units. These butted up to the pile capping beam which also carries a protective guard rail.

Because of the restricted access to the site, the Landmark blocks were craned in from above to allow installers to move them to the required position.

Roger Morgan adds: “This was a complex project and we are delighted with the result. The Landmark system has given us an added bonus of reducing the overall footprint of the wall. The road at the foot of the wall is now 1m wider than the original making access for residents much easier than before.”